Peat fires that have been burning in south-west Victoria since St Patrick's Day are believed to be out, but authorities will continue to monitor the area for the next six months.

Firefighters had been throwing extensive resources at the two smouldering fires at Lake Elingamite and Cobrico, including installing a 4-kilometre above-ground pipeline to pump 4 million litres of water a day into the peat.

"It's pretty hard. It's not like a normal grass fire … because they do burn underground and they're hard to find sometimes."

As well as the temporary above-ground pipeline, authorities used water-bombing helicopters, foam suppression, interstate firefighters, specialised alpine CFA vehicles, and fire trucks usually used to combat aircraft fires.

Covering nearly one-third of the continent, in deserts with poor soils, humble Australian spinifex grasses contain nano-sized particles that can amp the performance of a range of everyday items, researcher Nasim Amiralian writes.

Former treasurer Wayne Swan says that real private sector wages have grown by just 1 per cent under the Abbott and Turnbull governments, which he says equates to only one year of growth under the previous Labor government.